Device for lifting plates.



No. 643,|68. Patented Feb. I3, I900. F. S. SNYDER.

DEVICE FOR LlFTlNG PLATES.

(Application filed May 24, 1599.

(No Model.)

ATTORNEYS Unrrnn STATES PATENT @FFICE.

FREDERICK SCOTT SNYDER, OF WHITEHALL, NEW YORK.

DEVICE FOR LIFTING PLATES.

SPEGIFIC'ATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,168, dated February 13, 1900.

Application filed May 24, 1899. $erial No. 71 1 (N0 11106191) I To all whom it. may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK Soorr SNY- DER, of Whitehall, in the county of Washington and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Lifting Plates, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a device for lifting plates, intended particularly for handling pie-plates in placing them in and removing them from an oven, although adapted for handling plates of all kinds, as well as vessels having a rim similar to the outline of a plate.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference inclicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device applied to a plate. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing its method of adjustment for plates of different sizes. Fig. 3 is an end elevation taken from the left of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a plan view of a slightly-modified form of construction.

The object of my invention is to provide a cheap and convenient device by which pieplates and other similar articles may be quickly and conveniently handled without danger of burning the fingers.

The device, as shown, is made of bent wire and consists of a lower arm A, which may be formed by bending the wire at its middle and twisting the two pieces together, as shown at A in Fig. 2, or by continuing them alongside each other, either connected, as shown in Fig. 4, or disconnected, as shown in Fig. 1. The loop or that portion where the wire is bent upon itself is formed intoa hook B,which extends upward and is concaved on its outer surface, being thus adapted to engage the rim of a dish, as a plate. At one end of the lower arm or base opposite the hook the two halves of the wire are bent upward and forward or over the lower arm, at the same time flaring outwardly, thus forming spring-arms O. Preferably a short vertical standard F is formed between the lower and upper arms,

as most clearly shown in Fig. 1. I have found that the upper arms 0 spring more truly when this is done than when they rise directly from the lower arms, as they do not have the same tendency to twist, and thus to slip from eugagement with the plate edge.

As shown in the drawings, the spring-arms 0 form a regular curve extending at some little distance above the lower arm A. The outer ends of these spring-arms (Tare provided with inwardly-projecting hooks D, and these hooks are so placed that they will normally occupy a position separated from each other a distance nearly equal to the width of an ordinary plate. They will also be located substantially in the same plane as the lower arm A. The handle portion of the arms 0 may be crimped, as shown at C. in Fig. 1, thus furnishing a better grip for the hand, or may be left uncrimped, as desired.

In using my device the lower arm A is placed upon the surface upon which the plate is resting and the device slipped forward, with the hooks D embracing each side of the plate. As the base-section or lower arm A rests upon the same surface as the plate the lifter is thus correctly guided, so as to properly engage its hooks with the edge of the plate, which makes it a great deal more convenient to usein ovens and other dark places than if it had no such guiding member. If the plate is wider than the hooks D, the arms will permit the hooks to be spread so as to pass around the sides of the plate. At the same time the hook B will engage the adjacent edge of the plate. The two spring-arms O are grasped by the hand. These arms may thus be drawn together, so as to securely grasp the plate between the three hooks D, D, and B, whether the plate be large or small.

In Fig. 2 the outlines of two plates of different sizes are shown in dotted lines and the position of the spring-arms O for the smaller plate is also indicated by dotted lines. It will thus be seen that my device is quickly and automatically adjusted for plates of any size within its range, which range is quite large.

In Fig. 4 the wires forming the lower arm Aare not twisted, as shown in Fig. 2, but lie parallel and are bound together by having a plate E of metal stamped or otherwise secured on the same. It is desirable that the two halves of the Wire forming this lower arm be secured to each other in some way. 4

My device is quickly applied to plates of different sizes, as it is automatically adjusted by the simple action of grasping the springarms 0 with sufticient force to lift the plate.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 7 I 1. A plate-lifter having a lower arm provided at one end with a hook adapted to engage one edge of the plate, and at the other end with a vertical standard, the parts of which are fixedly secured together,and springarms extending from the upper end of the standard over the plate and flaring outwardly, said arms having hooks upon their outer ends adapted to engage the outer side edges of the plate, substantially as described.

2. A plate-lifter having a horizontal lower arm adapted to rest upon the plate-supporting surface and provided with an upwardlyextending hook upon one end adapted to engage the edge of a plate, and spring-arms attached to the opposite end of the lower arm and extending over said arm and the plate, and having hooks at their outer ends adapted to engage the edges of the plate beyond the lower arm and at each side of its center line, substantially as shown and described.

A plate-lifter having a horizontal lower arm adapted to rest upon the plate-supporting surface and provided with an upwardlyextending hook upon one end adapted to engage the edge of a plate, a standard rising from the other end of said arm, and springarms extending from the upper end of said standard over the lower arm and the plate, and having hooks at their outer ends adapted to engage the farther edges of the plate, substantially as shown and described.

4:. A plate-lifter composed of a single wire which is bent upon itself at its middle and has the end of the loop thus formed bent to form a side or upwardly-extending hook facing outwardly or in the direction of its end, the wires extending from said hook alongside each other to form a base-section, and then bending upwardly and being secured to each other to form a short standard, from the upper end of which wires extend upwardly and divergently over the base-section with their ends curving downwardly, and each provided at its end with an inwardly-extending hook adapted to engage the farther side edge of a plate, substantially as described.

FREDERICK SCOTT SNYDER.

WVitnesses:

H. O. RAYNOR, ll. P. FRANKLIN. 

